06-13-2017 ERMU MIN ELK RIVER MUNICIPAL UTILITIES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
UTILITIES COMMISSION
HELD AT UTILITIES CONFERENCE ROOM
June 13,2017
Members Present: Chair John Dietz;Vice Chair Daryl Thompson; Commissioners Al Nadeau,
Mary Stewart,and Matt Westgaard
ERMU Staff Present: Troy Adams, General Manager;
Theresa Slominski,Finance and Office Manager;
Mark Fuchs,Electric Superintendent;
Tom Sagstetter,Conservation&Key Accounts Manager;
Michelle Canterbury,Executive Administrative Assistant;
Jennie Nelson,Customer Service Manager;
Others Present: Peter Beck,Attorney
1.0 GOVERNANCE
1.1 Call Meeting to Order
The regular meeting of the Utilities Commission was called to order at 3:30 p.m.by Chair Dietz.
1.2 Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
1.3 Consider the Agenda
There were no additions or corrections to the agenda.
Moved by Commissioner Nadeau and seconded by Commissioner Stewart to approve the
June 13,2017,agenda. Motion carried 5-0.
1.4 Recognition of Employee Retirement
Mr.Fuchs introduced Lloyd Lorenzen and announced that he would be retiring on June 26. Mr.
Fuchs shared that he and Lloyd began their careers with ERMU around the same time; close to 31
years ago. Mr.Fuchs stated that Lloyd will be greatly missed. The staff and Commission gave
Lloyd a round of applause and thanked him for all of his years of service.
1.5 Introduction of New Employees
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Regular Meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission
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Mr. Tietz introduced Devin Ruprecht as the new Locator, and Mr. Fuchs introduced Derek
Groebner and Nick Hommerding as the new Lineworkers. The Commission welcomed the new
employees.
1.6 Recognition of Employee Promotions
Mr. Fuchs announced that Chris Sumstad had been internally promoted to the Foreperson
position, and that Matt Schwartz had been internally promoted to the Lead Lineworker
position. Both employees were unable to be at the meeting.
1.7 Recognition of Employee Achievements
Mr. Tietz introduced Tony Hubbard and Jeff Murray and announced that they had both
received their Substation and Meter Technician Certification. The Commission congratulated
the employees on their achievements.
1.8 Introduction of Climate Smart Municipalities Intern
Mr. Sagstetter introduced Jonas Scholz who is interning with the City of Elk River through the
Climate Smart Municipalities Program. The Commission welcomed the intern.
1.9 Recognition of the 2017 APPA Lineworker Rodeo Team
Mark Fuchs introduced and recognized the lineworkers who participated in the 2017
Lineworkers Rodeo. ERMU had one team of lineworkers that competed; the team consisted of
Matt Schwartz, Mitch Girtz, and Jared Rolstad. Jared Rolstad was at the Commission meeting
to represent the team. Jared thanked the Commission for allowing the team to participate in the
event, and shared that the knowledge and experience they gained from participating has been
invaluable. He stated that another benefit was having the opportunity to see the latest
techniques and safety practices being used in the field.
1.10 Recognition of the APPA RP3 Designation,Award for Outstanding Safety Practices, and
Exceptional Electric Reliability Achievement
Mr. Adams was pleased to announce that ERMU recently received national recognition from
the American Public Power Association(APPA) for the following: the Reliable Public Power
Provider(RP3) designation for providing reliable and safe electric service, the Safety Award of
Excellence for safe operating practices in 2016, and recognition for achieving exceptional
electric reliability in 2016.
2.0 CONSENT AGENDA(Approved By One Motion)
Chair Dietz had a few questions on the check register in regards to the employee clothing purchased
from Amaril Uniform Company,staff responded.
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Regular Meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission
June 13,2017
Moved by Commissioner Westgaard and seconded by Commissioner Thompson to approve
the Consent Agenda as follows:
2.1 May Check Register
2.2 May 9,2017 Regular Meeting Minutes
2.3 2016 Consumer Confidence Report
2.4 Wright-Hennepin Electric Cooperative Association Service Territory Transfer
Agreement
Motion carried 5-0.
3.0 OPEN FORUM
No one appeared for open forum.
4.0 POLICY& COMPLIANCE
4.1 Bylaws and Delegation to Management Policies
Mr. Adams presented the proposed bylaws and stated that staff had worked with ERMU's legal
counsel to draft the updated bylaws. The bylaws were revised with the intent to simplify yet be
specific about the source and limit of the ERMU Commission's authority. Also presented for
consideration were the first four delegation to management policies that consultant John Miner
had developed. Mr. Adams stated that staff had the opportunity to work through all of the
policies and had also vetted them with Attorney Beck. Attorney Beck concurred and stated
that they were good to go. Mr. Adams reached out to the Commission to see if they had any
questions on the proposed bylaws or policies. Commissioner Westgaard had one question on
the G.4a Succession of Leadership policy, he inquired as to who was designated as the primary
and secondary successor. Mr. Adams explained that as this is a newly developed practice he
had not designated anyone as of yet; this is something that he will be working on.
Moved by Commissioner Stewart and seconded by Commissioner Nadeau to adopt the
Bylaws and Delegation to Management Policies. Motion carried 5-0.
5.0 BUSINESS ACTION
5.1 Financial Report—April 2017
Ms. Slominski presented the April 2017 financial report. For the electric statement,
Commissioner Stewart asked for further clarification as to how the CIP rebates are processed
and the timing of the rebate payments. Mr. Sagstetter went through the rebate process and
explained that the CIP credit balance of approximately $12,000 reflects rebate dollars we've
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Regular Meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission
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received from Great River Energy(GRE)that are waiting to be paid out to the customer once
all their paperwork is complete. Chair Dietz asked if the process would be similar once we
switch over to Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA). Mr. Sagstetter explained that
the process will be relatively the same with the exception of having to budget for our own
rebates. There was discussion.
For the water statement, Commissioner Stewart asked what the $5,000 loss on disposition of
property was for. Ms. Slominski responded that she believed it was for an asset that was
retired, but she would need to clarify that and get back to the Commission.
Moved by Commissioner Nadeau and seconded by Commissioner Stewart to approve the
April 2017 Financial Report. Motion carried 5-0.
5.2 Load Management Transition Plan Update
Mr. Sagstetter informed the Commission that staff has been working internally, and with Dave
Berg Consulting, LLC, to determine a cost effective way to transition from direct load control
programs to behavior driven programs utilizing time of use (TOU) rates. Before developing
customer communication material, staff is looking for Commission consensus on the load
management transition plan for each of the programs that ERMU currently has customers
participating in.
Mr. Sagstetter walked through the load management transition plan as outlined in his memo.
He explained that in an effort to incentivize customers to convert from direct load control to
TOU rates, ERMU will offer a rebate towards the purchase and installation of a WIFI
compatible thermostat. In addition, ERMU would also install a new TOU meter for each
customer that converts over to the TOU rate. Mr. Sagstetter went over the financial impact
associated with the meter conversion. Commissioner Stewart asked if we would be able to
capitalize the meters. Staff responded that we would. After discussion, Commission
consensus was to move forward with the load management transition plan as presented.
6.0 BUSINESS DISCUSSION
6.1 Staff Updates
Mr.Adams shared that he attended the Great River Energy Annual Meeting and provided an
overview of the meeting and the take away message. He also shared that wholesale power rate
increases for the foreseeable future are projected to be in-line or under inflation.
Mr.Fuchs provided details on the recent outages resulting from the storms that came through on
Sunday,June 10.He stated that besides losing three feeders,a majority of the problems were due to
trees coming down onto the power lines. It took crews approximately four hours to restore power to
the 950 customers that were affected. Mr. Fuchs shared that once we had our situation under
control,we dispatched two crews to help out Connexus Energy as part of our mutual aid agreement.
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Regular Meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission
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There was discussion. Commissioner Stewart mentioned that she had reported an outage to our
afterhours call center about a week ago and that they had asked her if she would like an automated
phone call once power had been restored; although she had requested one, she stated that she never
received that call. Staff indicated that they would look into this further.
Chair Dietz inquired as to whether the locating situation was getting under control. Mr. Tietz stated
that it was a good thing that we approved hiring a second locator. He explained that although they
are still extremely busy,they're staying on top of things.
6.2 Future Planning
There was no future planning.
6.3 Other Business
Chair Dietz announced that the next regularly scheduled Commission meeting will be held on
July 11, 2017.
The Commission recessed the regular meeting at 4:20 p.m. and went into the closed meeting.
6.4 Closing of Meeting: Meeting closed pursuant to MN Statute 13D.05, Subd. 3(a) for the
performance evaluation of Troy Adams, General Manager
The Commission reconvened the regular meeting at 5:15 p.m.
7.0 ADJOURN REGULAR MEETING
There being no further business,Chair Dietz adjourned the regular meeting of the Elk River
Municipal Utilities Commission at 5:16 p.m.
Minutes prepared by Michelle Canterbury.
dirt
Join J. Dietz, M o ssion Chair
Tina Allard,City Jerk
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Regular Meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission
June 13,2017